The university escort service began service last week without its two trademark vans, after a $50 million budget deficit prompted cuts across the university for the current fiscal year, but university officials say the missing vans are the only cuts with a direct effect on students.
Last year, President Robert Brown asked each university unit to submit a proposal for 3 percent cost reduction or revenue enhancement, and choose among these proposals to balance the budget. Because of the cuts, the university began fiscal year 2007 in the black, Brown said in an Aug. 30 interview.
“We made the changes we needed to make last year and so we’re projecting a much better budget year, looking forward.” Brown said. “There a lot of unknown parameters this far, but its looking good.”
The shuttle service was one area targeted for cost reduction.
“The vans are pricey to operate, due to gas prices, insurance and repairs,” Annemarie Kougias, administration director of the George Sherman union, said in an email. “The ‘walking’ service is much less so.”
BUESS has created two “satellite” locations at 1019 Commonwealth Ave. and 575 Commonwealth Ave. in addition to its headquarters in the GSU. Both locations will operate from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. during the week and until 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday. ESS employees will continue walking students home and patrolling the BU Bridge and Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The ESS will also conduct nightly “safety checks” on blue-light phones, vestibule phones and entrances to BU housing and buildings.
“The main concern of ESS has and always will be student safety on campus,” ESS manager Eric Muller said in an email. “With this in mind, we were reluctant about the loss of the escort vans when we found out over the summer. However, we were also confident that we could still provide the same level of professional and expedient service without the vans.”
A walking service is nothing new for ESS, which initially employed escorts on foot before adding vans to the service.
“Doing some research into the service, thanks in part to Gene Dulton, the founder of ESS and an employee of BU, we learned that our idea was not at all a new one,” the College of Arts and Sciences junior said. “Before Escort had any van service, the program ran successfully with a variation of our new satellite program. We are hopeful and confident that the service will continue to be widely used and accepted by the BU student populace.”
Muller said the loss of the ESS vans means they will have to hire more people to act as escorts.
“We recruited heavily this summer and at the beginning of the fall 2006 semester,” he said. “We will have more escorts working every night during this semester and probably throughout the next academic year. The ESS now has about 60 walkers, an increase from last year. Also, all of our former drivers are now walking.
“There have never been escorts available 24 hours a day,” Muller continued. “The new satellite locations will simply reduce wait times for walks around campus and also allow escort to act as ‘the eyes and ears’ of the BU campus at night. We are working closely with BUPD to ensure the campus is safe and secure throughout the school year.”
Kougias said the van service was not as reliable as they would have hoped.
“Because we owned only two vehicles, one of which was 4 years old and the other 10 years old, we had many nights of inconsistent service,” she said. “Often one, or sometimes both vehicles, were ‘in the shop.’ Neither we–nor our customers–could rely on the vans.”
Kougias said students were also abusing the van service, which was intended to keep students safe.
“We are first and foremost a security, not shuttle, service,” she said. “We are able to maintain that part of our mission without the vans. Many students had begun to perceive the van service as a shuttle service.”
College of General Studies sophomore Ann Medeiros said she used the escort vans frequently last year when she lived in the Hyatt.
“The Escort Service was cool,” she said. “It was a good service. They were usually on time–never took too long. They never said anything if you were drunk.”
Medeiros said she thought less people would take advantage of a walker-only service.
“A lot less people will use the service if they get rid of the vans,” she said. “It’s a dumb and horrible idea. In the middle of winter, I looked forward to a warm van ride home. It’s so much faster and easier than walking.”
Kougias said there was little chance of the service being reinstated.
“I do not anticipate restoring this aspect of the service at any time in the near future,” she said. “Even as gas prices lower … that was only one factor in the decision to revise the service. I hope that all students will continue to avail themselves of the Escort Security Service. Remember-‘We will walk you home when no one else will.'”